1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to the wildlife conservation and methods for education and promotion related to such conservation. More particularly it relates to methods for involvement of individuals, especially children, in appreciation of wildlife generally and conservation of wildlife using specific animals as surrogates for the larger population of general wildlife.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The plight of wildlife in many areas of the world is well-known. While not all species are endangered or threatened, virtually all have had their habitats limited by competing activities of humans, such as agriculture, domestic animal production and urbanization. This has created a real problem of maintaining sufficient habitat to avoid disruption of their normal living patterns and becoming dependent on the human environment. For many species the situation is critical, and there is a real question of their survival. While the loss of habitat and the threat of either local or global extinction of wildlife have been widely described and documented, a major problem for conservationists who are interested in preserving animals in the wild is to gain the attention of the members of the public generally and attract both financial and moral support. Many adults pay little heed to the needs and survival of wild animals and consequently do not transmit any concern for wildlife to their children.
Children, however, are known to be curious and to show great interest in animals when they are exposed to wildlife, whether by visits to the zoo or through viewing programs or films about wildlife on television, at school or at the theater. Unfortunately, there is often little support for this curiosity and interest in a child""s home. Therefore to insure future support in adulthood by the current youngsters, what is needed is a medium and method which can reach children notwithstanding the relative indifference of their parents and which can allow children to explore the real world of animals and make an active contribution to the survival and well-being of the animals, while also developing a lifelong knowledge of animal life and behavior and interest in wildlife conservation.
Children of course are attracted by things that they find to be fun, such as games, toys and well-presented educational activities. Many successful educational programs are designed to provide a child with a series of enjoyable activities through which the child absorbs the educational information which is provided. When children learn in this manner, the information imparted commonly is retained and understood for a significantly longer time than information which is presented to them in what they considered to be a dull or boring manner. Further, children have been found to be well able to absorb and understand information about significant environmental issues when the information is presented in the context of enjoyable activities. It is also wellknown that the interests that children develop a young age often result in continued interest as they grow into their adult years.
It would therefore be advantageous if there were multimedia and interactive means for presenting information about wildlife conservation to youngsters in a manner that they would find enjoyable and which would allow them to relate to the welfare of animals at an interest level appropriate to the age of the child, such that it would be likely that the interest would be maintained and grow throughout the child""s life.
The present invention provides a child with an interactive mixture of information content, activities, games, physical objects such as toys, and interconnection and communication with other like-minded children and supportive adults, all of which are directed to instilling in the child an appreciation for wildlife and interest in the conservation of wildlife. A unique feature of the present invention is that it causes the child to focus on a specific wild animal, one which is symbolically xe2x80x9cadoptedxe2x80x9d by the child and which the child comes to know on a very personal basis. This invention therefore allows the development of a bond between the wild animal and child as the child learns about and follows the day-to-day activities, life and well-being of the animal.
For most children, particularly younger children, it is difficult to understand the nature of a large number of objects in a group. They usually cannot relate very well to the concept of an entire species of animals or even to the concept of animals at the level of a living group such as a herd, troop or pack. On the other hand, children are very good at forming attachment and understanding with a single animal, as is well exemplified by the bond rapidly formed between a child and a family pet. It is the function of the present invention to allow a child to form a similar, although more vicarious, bond with a specific wild animal. The invention herein provides the child with information and activities which allow that type of bond to form, in the same manner that a child engages in activities and obtains information about the life of the family pet.
The present invention provides an interactive electronic method, supplemented by physical objects such as games and toys, through which the child is introduced to, learns about and forms an attachment with the specific animal. In the present method an accessible wild animal, usually an animal which is resident in an animal preserve or which has been taken in by an animal welfare organization because of illness or injury, is selected and identified. The animal is assigned a familiar name, in the same manner that a family names the family pet. Often the animal chosen is from a threatened or endangered species, so that the child develops an understanding not just of wildlife in general but rather of a specific animal in a group whose very existence may be threatened. (For the purposes of this invention, definitional differences between xe2x80x9cendangered,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cthreatenedxe2x80x9d and similar terms are not important. The term xe2x80x9cendangeredxe2x80x9d will be used generally to broadly refer to wildlife which are considered to be xe2x80x9cat risk.xe2x80x9d)
Once the animal has been selected and identified, the operator of this invention collects information about the animal and organizes it into a package that will appeal to children. Photographs and films are taken of the animal as it goes through its daily routine, information is gathered and tabulated regarding details about the animal such as its physical condition, age, size and similar characteristics, as well as information about its needs, such as the type of food it eats, the type of habitat it requires and type of interaction it has with other animals, such as predators or prey. From this information various interactive activities are developed, such as games that the child can play to learn about the animal or to have some experience as to what it would be like to live as the animal does, as well as other activities which allow the child to develop an understanding of the animal, its species, its life, and the hazards that it faces.
Such information is then made available through the process of this invention with electronic media such as CDs, DVDs, videotapes or cassettes, as well as by establishment of a Web site on the Internet. The information on the physical media such as the CDs will generally be fixed in time, presenting the animal at a particular time. It is, however, possible with recent developments that such media can be updated electronically, or of course updated media can be issued to supersede the earlier media. On the other hand, the Web site preferably will be interactive and can be updated on a frequent basis, even on a daily basis, so that when the child accesses the Web site, he or she will see the animal in essentially a current state. Indeed, if the Web site incorporates a live-action camera, the child can observe the animal in real time.
Also as part of the present invention, the operator provides a variety of wildlife-related toys and games which can be purchased by or for the child. Chief among these is a line of stuffed plush toys, respective ones of which are designed to resemble particular ones of the selected animals. The child can therefore not only learn about his or her xe2x80x9cadoptedxe2x80x9d animal from CDs or the Web site, but can also have a toy version of that specific animal. This is particularly attractive to younger children, who commonly attribute xe2x80x9crealxe2x80x9d personalities to their teddy bears and other animal toys.
As part of present invention, the operator selects and identifies the animals, collects and assembles all of the animal-related information and creates the information media and the Web site, and develops and markets the toys, CDs, DVDs, and other products. The child (usually through an adult, such as parent or grandparent, acting on the child""s behalf purchases the toys, CDs, DVDs and similar merchandise and pays for access to some or all of the areas of the Web site, such as access to portions of the Web site related to specific animals. The income received by the operator from the sale of the merchandise and access to any restricted areas of the Web site are divided to provide a first fund for operating the organization, producing and marketing the various media and products and maintaining the Web site, as well as a second fund for providing direct monetary assistance to entities such as the wildlife preserve or wildlife organization which cares for and houses in the specific animals. In addition, other portions of the fees may to go wildlife conservation in general, such as through payment to the specific wildlife preserve or organization which that organization passes on to other organization or a parent entity, or through payments to other wildlife conservation organizations which are not related to the specific animal. Thus the child""s interest in the specific animal effectively extends to provide for overall wildlife conservation and preservation of wildlife environment.
Therefore, in a principal embodiment, the invention involves a method for promotion of and education regarding wildlife which comprises identifying an individual animal; compiling a database comprising a first body of information regarding the individual animal and a second body of information regarding animals other than the individual animal and incorporating the database in electronic media and on a global computer network system; providing an educational and play article having a configuration which is a recognizable effigy of the individual animal; providing for access to the database and opportunity to purchase the article and the electronic media by a person, the access to the database comprising symbolic adoption of the individual animal by the person, the symbolic adoption comprising registration of association with the animal of the person; requiring a first monetary payment by the person for access to at least a portion of the database and for purchase of the article and the electronic media; and apportioning a part of the first monetary payment to maintenance directly or indirectly of the individual animal and support of wildlife generally.
In another embodiment, the invention involves an educational and play article having a configuration which is a recognizable effigy of the animal selected and identified in the method described above.
In yet another embodiment, the invention involves an educational and play article comprising electronic media depicting the individual animal selected and identified in the method described above and including information regarding activities and environment of the animal.
Numerous other embodiments and objects will be evident from the description below.